Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-12-07
MARVELLOUS STRENGTH.
A Little Ohio Hercules with a
Never-Failing Nerve.

Away back in the sixties was finan-
cially interested in two or three Texas en-
terprises with a man named George Sloane,
writes q contributor TO the New York San.
That was his right name, but in many To-
calities in Texas he was known only as
Nervy George i have seen great many
statements concering his adventures in
print, but all more or less exaggerated.
Some of the adventures which came about
while we were in company l will now give
TO the press for the first time.
Sloane was an Ohio boy, and made his
acquaintance and chummed with him IN the
Andersonville prison pen. We went West
together after the war, and at that time he
was only twenty-seven years old BE was
five feet seven inches high, weighing one
hundred and sixty pounds, and was the
strongest man L ever saw outside of pro-
fessional wrestler or cannon-ban tosser.
His flesh was so hard that he could crack a
walnut on his leg. On two or three occa-
sions knew hlm to break the bones in
mans hand by single grip He took no
training of any sort, but the strength and
ruggedness were born to him. AS If not
satisfied in making him a young hercules,
nature gave him the most wonderful nerve
and courage. He once told me that he
Would give one hundred dollars TO realize
for five minutes what fear was / saw him
in some of the hottest places a man could
get into, and never saw him falter or hes
tate or make mistake in doing Just the
right thing.
One afternoon, after we had finished up
some business in Dallas and were ready to
60 we entered saloon for a parting nip.
Ii was full of gamblers, cowboys and rough
characters generally, and every man wore
in, rAla al a ci,
ping our drink when burly, big ruffian,
who was fighter from way back inten-
tionally fell against Sloane with considera-
BILE force, and then stood off and leered at
him, and said:
&" I'm waiting fur ye to AK my parding fur
that, banty."
Sloane never carried a weapon of any
sort while in a town. He looked the big fell
low over in cool and quiet way, and finally
asked:
did you intend to insult me, sirl"
"Insult yer' echoed the other. "Who
talks of insults. Why, We little gamecock
from somebody's barnyard, I'll give We two
minits to git down on your knees to me-"
''If you do not beg my pardon before fin
sh this glass" replied George, Twill make
wreck Of you"
BY this time every body in the saloon had
we had no friends there. There was some
thing in Sloane's eye and tone which eau
toned the big fellow, and if left to himself
he would have retired from the scrape
But he was egged on and braced up by the
crowd. who ached to see q row, and he
stepped back little, drew his revolver and
yrowled:
"Now, banty, get down on your marrow
oones, or You'll take dose of lead"
Sloane leaned on the bar with his elbow
and slipped his wine slowly, paying no
further attention TO any one. He was, per-
naps, a minute and half finishing his
glass, and during the last half minute he
was covered by the mans revolver. When
ne set the glass down he wiped OF his
mouth, returned the handkerchief, and then
turned and advanced upon the ruffian. The
man fired point blank at his head, cut OF a
lock of hair. and the bullet killed the bar
tender Before he could fire again George
eized him, one handion his throat and the
other on his knee, lifted him high in the air,
and held him thus for ten seconds. Then he
gave the body a fling upon some whisky
barrels ten feet away. 1t was an astonish-
ing feat of strength. and the silence of
death fell upon the room. When it was
broken it was by man who had tip-toed
over to the barrels to look at the ruffian.
and who hoarsely whispered: es
..Greats heavensi Tom Is as dead as a
fish, 80 ~
So he was. The iron fingers had choked
the life out of him as he was held aloft, and
when he struck the barrel almost every
bone in his body was broken. George stood
there for two long minutes, looking from
one to the other, and then asked:
docs anybody else want me to 90 down
on my kheesP
Never man replied. Never a hand was
lifted, and we went slowly out and mounted
our horses and rode away unmolested.
A month or so later we were at Waco.
and one night attended the performance at
concert hall. A rougher crowd couldn't
have been brought together. In the first
five minutes of our stay, saw three tum-
blers of beer shot out of the hands of wait
ers, and hat was Knocked from the head
Of one Of the stage performers by a bullet.
i scented a row and wanted to go, but
George asked me to wait bit. Directly in
front of us sat AN outlaw from the Indian
Territory. He was IN an ugly frame oi
mind, and anxious for blood-letting, and
pretty soon he turned on US with:
(which Of vou verIain sDit on nv hatIn
"Neline. OF us, sir, politely answered my
friend.
You are iiari" shouted the MAJ, as he
rose up.
NO shOotingi No shOotingw called a
hundred voices, and the stage performance
was suspended to see the row out We
were chock up the side of the hall, with a
wide aisle in our front. Retreat was cut OF.
while we could be approached by three men
abreast We put our bucks to the wall. and
/ called out that we were unarmed and
wanted fair play. Twenty people shouted
back chat we should have it, but in place Of
two men approaching Us q whole half dozen
jumped into the aisle.
leave them al 10 me, !" whispered George
and he obliged me to do 90 BY stepping IN
trout